2025 Porsche Macan Turbo Electric review: there’s something missing…

It would be understandable, perhaps even expected, for the usually unflappably confident Porsche to be just a little nervous about the reception its new Macan is likely to receive. Simply because it has an almost impossible act to follow.

The last Macan was launched a decade ago on an already six-year-old Audi platform and has vied ever since with the Cayenne for the title of Porsche’s best-selling car. Between them they account for two-thirds of everything Porsche sells. But the new Macan – and the next Cayenne that will follow it on the same platform in quite short order – are pure electric cars, cannot be anything else and are launching into an increasingly EV-sceptical marketplace. And Porsche’s first foray into this world has not been without issues: the Taycan was launched to deserved and unprecedented praise for an EV five years ago, but has lacked the rock-solid residuals usually enjoyed by Porsche products.

The new Macan range comprises four models at launch, a rear-drive base car with 355bhp costing from £65,500, the same car with all-wheel drive and 402bhp for £71,200, a 509bhp Macan 4S for £76,900 and the range-topping Macan Turbo packing 630bhp for £96,900. One problem it faces – and which perhaps illuminates Porsche’s concerns – is that thanks to one of the few vanishingly rare benefits of Brexit, Porsche can still sell the petrol Macan in the UK, but not in Europe. The petrol and EV models are not directly comparable, but it’s worth pointing out that the cheapest petrol Macan is nearly £10,000 less than its electric stablemate, the most expensive GTS over £20,000 more affordable.

But as ever Porsche has done its best. To these eyes the new car looks terrific, far more menacing and interesting than any previous Macan. And the inside has taken a similar leap forward, both in available technology and perceived quality. Space in the back is still limited, a clearly quite deliberate move by Porsche intended to ensure there remains good reason for punters to still buy Cayennes, but the boot is well shaped and generously proportioned.

Even so, it’s clear from the off what’s missing. Now, no Macan ever had a snarling V8 under the bonnet, so there’s perhaps less to be lost here than there will be when the petrol Cayenne takes its final bow, but you’ll miss even the V6 when all there is to hear is the clearly synthesised whirring of an electric motor. You’ll miss paddles too, for the Macan has none. Some manufacturers keep paddles and use them for varying levels of brake regeneration or scrolling through drive modes – Hyundai even uses them in the Ioniq 5 N for ‘changing gear’ when you ask it to pretend it’s petrol powered, a feat of mimicry so good it would earn a standing ovation from Rory Bremner.

“At times it seems barely possible that it’s generating so much poise and grip”

Nothing like that here, just a massive slug of power and very little else. I know Porsche is all for being purist and real, an approach that does it credit where its sports cars are concerned, but when the job is to try to inject some sense of excitement back into an electric SUV that weighs 400kg more than the petrol car it’s replacing (yes, really), one wonders if it is not standing on principle to its own disadvantage. I’m not saying it should provide gearshifts and a portfolio of sounds allowing you to go to work in a 3-litre RSR and come home in a 5-litre 917 (though it’d get no complaints from me if it did), but for Porsche to miss any opportunity to involve the driver more is, well, a missed opportunity.

Even so you’ll be dazzled by the speed at which this 2.4-tonne monster will get you down a difficult road. At times it seems barely possible that it’s generating so much poise and grip. It’s been done not just by throwing all the toys at it like a torque vectoring differential and rear-wheel steering but also designing the car with its major masses (read: batteries) concentrated not just in the middle of the platform but as low as possible, rendering the car’s centre of gravity fully 140mm lower than that of the petrol Macan.

Nor has this phenomenal point-to-point pace been achieved only by compromising ride comfort: on standard air springs and so long as you avoid its more sporting modes, it rides superbly well. I just wish there was a touch more joy about it. The old Macan always made you feel part of the machine, in a way no other SUV in its class ever did, and it’s why it was my favourite car of its kind from the moment I first drove one. This one doesn’t. Indeed as you admire all it can do, the sense that the car has all but taken over is unavoidable.

To be honest I’d live well without the neck-snapping power and I’d like something more natural feeling and lighter. It’s a job the base Macan might perform well. I look forward to making its acquaintance.

Porsche Macan Turbo electric

• Price £96,900
• Engine Front and rear electric motors, 100.0kWh battery
• Power 630bhp
• Torque 833lb
• Weight 2405kg
• Power to weight 262bhp per tonne
• Transmission Single-speed, four-wheel drive
• 0-62mph 3.3sec
• Top speed 162mph
• Range 383 miles (WLTP)
• Charging speed: Up to 270kW
• Verdict Lacks the character of old.